The systems, devices, and methods disclosed herein relate to the care of infants, and particular prematurely born infants. Preterm birth affects about one of every nine infants born in the United States. This amounts to 400,000 infants each year in the US alone and nearly 15 million globally. Preterm birth is a leading contributor to infant death and the leading cause of long-term neurological disabilities in children. Of those born preterm, 75,464 babies were very preterm, or born before 32 weeks, contributing to the largest number of infant deaths. These infants on average had a length of stay of 46.2 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Care of premature infants generally involves careful control of the environment surrounding the infant. Due to heightened risks of health complications, maintaining body temperature and sterility is of primary importance. Infants in general and preterm infants in particular have relatively large surface area to mass ratios, making them extremely vulnerable to heat loss. They also exhibit thin and poor thermal insulation compared to adults and a small amount of mass to act as a heatsink.
Current methods of care generally include swaddling the infant in warm clothing and providing heating apparatuses. While these apparatuses may adequately warm an infant to some degree, they fail to address issues of dermal desiccation even when humidified air is provided. They may also result in difficulty of movement due to the infant's removal from a fluid environment. Further, difficulties associated with administering medications may arise as well.
There is therefore a need for a premature infant incubator that allows movement and exercise of infant arms and legs within a fluid environment, improves thermal regulation of the infant, and surrounds the infant in a fluid environment. There is also a need for an incubation method that provides transdermal hydration of the infant and transdermal topical nutrition and pharmaceutical treatment for the infant through addition of nutritional and/or pharmaceutical content to the simulated amniotic fluid.